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Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have condemned Iran’s January 29 ballistic missile test. Many also criticized Tehran for destabilizing the region through its sponsorship for terrorist organizations and militias. The following are recent remarks by members of Congress on Iran.
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On February 3, the U.S. Treasury announced new sanctions on 13 individuals and 12 entities for supporting Iran’s ballistic missile program and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). “Iran’s continued support for terrorism and development of its ballistic missile program poses a threat to…

On January 29, Iran test launched a medium-range ballistic missile. U.S. defense officials said the test seemed to be a failure because the missile crashed or exploded after flying more than 500 miles. The United States called for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting, which was held on…

On January 29, Iran test launched a medium-range ballistic missile, according to U.S. defense officials. On January 31, the U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting and recommended the matter of the missile testing be studied at committee level. On February 1, Iran’s defense minister…

President Trump’s inauguration provoked widespread interest from Iran’s media and across its political spectrum. Front pages covered everything from the President’s first days in office to how the First Lady provided a “light on [the] scary face of Trump.” Newspapers analyzed how the new U.S.…

On January 25, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sabah Khaled al Sabah made a rare one-day visit to Tehran and called for a frank dialogue between Iran and its Arab neighbors. He delivered a message to President Hassan Rouhani from his country’s emir, Sabah al Ahmad al Jaber al Sabah, the details of which…

President Hassan Rouhani will be up for reelection in May 2017. His popularity peaked in August 2015 with an 89 percent favorability rating just after the nuclear deal was brokered between Iran and the world’s six major powers. As of December 2016, however, only 68 percent of Iranians viewed him…

Some 71 percent of Iranians believe that President Donald Trump is likely to decide not to abide by the terms of the nuclear deal, according to a new poll by the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM) and IranPoll.com. Some 59 percent of Iranians think Tehran should…

On January 18, Governor Nikki Haley (R-SC) testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on her nomination to be ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration. She called the U.N. Security Council endorsement of the nuclear deal with Iran a “huge disappointment” and said…

Under the nuclear deal, Iran was required to remove certain infrastructure and excess centrifuges from the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant by the one-year anniversary of implementation, January 16, 2017. The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Yukiya Amano, and U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, have…

On January 12, the Senate Armed Services Committee held a confirmation hearing for retired Marine Gen. James N. Mattis, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense. He said that he would not have signed the nuclear deal with Iran but that the United States must live up to its…

The following are remarks from top leaders on the anniversary of the nuclear deal’s implementation day, January 16. The agreement between Iran and the world’s six major powers —Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States —significantly limited Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange…

On January 13, President Obama sent letters to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate on the Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Iran. The following is the full text.
CONTINUATION OF THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY WITH RESPECT TO IRAN
On…

On January 12, the Senate Intelligence Committee held a confirmation hearing for Representative Mike Pompeo (R-KS), President Donald Trump’s nominee for Central Intelligence Agency Director. He said that as a member of Congress, he opposed the nuclear deal, but acknowledged that his role would…

On January 11, former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on his nomination to be secretary of state in the Donald Trump administration. He said Iran poses a great threat to the world because of its “refusal to conform to international norms.” If…

On January 8, former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani died of a heart attack at age 82. He held top positions in the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution. He was president for two terms from 1989 to 1997. He was chairman of the Assembly of Experts, a panel of more than 80 clerics and…

On January 5, Secretary of State John Kerry released an exit memo with an overview of the Obama Administration’s foreign policy over the last eight years. The following is an excerpt on Iran from the memo with other remarks from January 2017.
Verifiably Preventing Iran from Obtaining a Nuclear…

Nearly two thirds of Americans oppose withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal to negotiate a better one, according to a new survey from the University of Maryland’s Program for Public Consultation (PPC). “Though President-elect [Donald] Trump campaigned on ripping up the deal and seeking to…

On January 2, 37 top scientists from the United States wrote to President-elect Donald Trump urging him not to scrap the Iran nuclear deal. The agreement “provides a strong bulwark against an Iranian nuclear-weapons program,” they wrote. “We urge you to preserve this critical U.S. strategic asset…

In December 2016, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif published a lengthy article titled “How to Handle the Enabling Conditions for Extremism and Terror” in the Iranian Review of Foreign Affairs. The following are excerpts.
Global, Internal and Regional Enabling Conditions
The situation…

On December 15, the White House announced that a bill extending the Iran Sanctions Act for 10 years would become law without President Obama’s signature. The administration had previously said that Obama would likely sign it. The White House said that the extension, “while unnecessary, is entirely…

On December 6, President Rouhani warned the incoming Trump administration against trying to renegotiate or tear up the nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). His speech at Tehran University, was broadcast nationally on state television. Other officials have yet…

On December 1, the U.S. Senate voted 99-0 to extend the Iran Sanctions Act, which targets the Islamic Republic’s banking, defense, and energy sectors. President Obama is expected to sign the legislation. The law allows the president to waive those sanctions, as Obama has done with some sanctions…

CIA Director John Brennan warned U.S. President-elect Donald Trump that tearing up the nuclear deal would be “the height of folly.” In an interview with the BBC, Brennan said that backing out of an agreement made by a previous administration would be unprecedented. During the U.S. presidential…

At a press conference on November 14, President Obama discussed how the 2016 election might affect the historic Iran nuclear deal. The following is an excerpt of a question about the deal’s future after Donald Trump assumes the presidency and Obama’s reply.
Q: President-elect Trump threatened to…

From August through October, Iran took additional steps toward reintegration with the world economy. It courted foreign investors in various sectors of its economy, such as energy, mining, and automobile production. The modest influx of cash back into the Iranian market and anticipation of more…

On October 24, Chatham House, a prominent London-based think tank, named Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as co-recipients of an annual prize. Members of the institution vote for person, persons or organizations who have made “the most significant…

The following are excerpts from a recently published report by Kenneth Katzman, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs at the Congressional Research Service, on Iran’s foreign and defense policies.
Latin America
Some U.S. officials and some in Congress have expressed concerns about Iran’s…

The following are excerpts from a recently published report by Kenneth Katzman, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs at the Congressional Research Service, on Iran’s foreign and defense policies.
Russia
Iran appears to attach increasing weight to its relations with Russia, which is a permanent…